“It is clear that any reports about the shooting on the border are worrying… I do hope that this does actually focus everybody’s minds that we have to get back to the negotiating process in greater substance,” Toivo Klaar, the EU’s Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, commenting on recent tensions along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
Klaar acknowledged that Armenia and Azerbaijan could move forward in the peace process faster “if the political will is there.”
“I believe it should not take that long to arrive at a positive outcome if the political will is there, if the commitment is there. And that is what we want to work for together with Armenia, together with Azerbaijan, that indeed we get from the point where we are to a positive outcome. Because I believe that it should not take that long if the political commitment is there from both sides,” he said.
Speaking about Turkey-Armenia normalization, Klaar stressed that Brussels supports this process. He said he hoped that the special envoys for normalization talks designated by Yerevan and Ankara would meet soon.
“My hope would be that in the near future this process would indeed move forward and show results for the sake of Armenia, for the sake of Turkey, for the sake of the region,” the EU diplomat said.
As for Armenia’s possible membership in the EU in the future, Klaar said that “it depends on political decisions made in Yerevan, Brussels, and the member states.”
“I think there are so many elements related to this. I think certainly what we are seeing right now is a strengthening of relations between the European Union and Armenia, which corresponds to the interests of the European Union, which corresponds to the interests of Armenia. How this relationship will evolve, we will have to see,” he said.
“Again, I think that compared to only a few years ago, the relationship between the EU and Armenia has evolved significantly. But where we will end up in our relationship, I think that is too early to say. It depends on political decisions made in Yerevan. It depends on political decisions made in Brussels, in the member states. And all of this is a process where Armenia is only now starting to catch up on some of the elements where we could have been a bit further along already 10 years ago, but then, of course, Armenia decided differently. And so we are catching up on maybe lost time that we have had in our relationship,” the diplomat added.
Asked whether Armenia’s membership in Russia-led organizations like the Collective Security Treaty Organization was an obstacle to the country’s further integration with the EU, Klaar said: “I think right now we have to look at what the Armenian government and what the Armenian people want to do, where they want to go and how they see best the development of our relations. And again, I think what is good is that we are seeing also with the meeting last week a real strengthening of EU-Armenia relations. And the United States is there to help support the resilience of Armenia. And that was a very important message that I believe [European Commission] President [Ursula] von der Leyen gave to Prime Minister [Nikol] Pashinian.”